When it comes to Japanese and Asian food, Newcastle only has a handful of great places. And even fewer who offer Japanese for a decent price. So when Sohe first opened last year, I was obviously keen to try it out. Having heard great things about the cocktails, I headed there with the girls. We spent the night working our way through the cocktail menu, piles of dim sum and rendang. After filling our faces, we all agreed we’d be back soon. But somehow, I just didn’t get around to going back. So after getting invited along to sample their new lunch menu, I couldn’t wait. After visiting for an evening meal, I thought Sohe’s food was lush, but expensive. Their lunch menu is much more reasonable though, offering two courses for under £10.
WWith Sohe’s lunch options you can either choose one dim sum and one banh mi for £8.90. Each of the dim sum, banhi mi and specials are priced individually, perfect if you’re not that hungry (or on a budget). If there’s one thing that Sohe do well, it’s dim sum and dim sum is always best shared. So when I was busy drooling over the menu, I had already picked out the chicken curry pot stickers. Served with a vindaloo dip, I think they’re now possibly my favourite ever dumplings. And we also opted for the Singapore 5 spiced pork and prawn rolls served with a hot piquant dip. Both dishes had a bit of a kick, but the dumplings were definitely my favourite, served deliciously crisp and fresh from the pan.
When it came to our main meals, we’d already settled on trying out the Massaman curry served with fragrant rice. And after a lot of indecision, finally settled on the duck satay with spicy peanut sauce wrapped in a roti served with a portion of togarashi seasoned chips. I love satay but it’s not something I usually order, so I thought it would be good to try something a bit different… although I was tempted by the Teriyaki glazed patties served in brioche. With just enough of a kick the satay wasn’t too sickly, and the roti was thin, soft and fresh. The Massaman curry on the other hand, stole the show. Completely. With a rich, sort of spicy, sort of sweet sauce, I coulld have eaten buckets of this stuff. The chicken was served on the bone, but cooked so tenderly it was falling off. It’s safe to say that after the obligatory ‘I need to take the photos for the blog’ pause, we wolfed the lot down. Since I’m not a massive eater (portion size wise), I’d say that on my next trip it’d do me just to order the curry without any dim sum. But if you’re sharing with a couple of people, dim sum is always a good idea! Having cleared our plates and polished off a couple more glasses of prosecco, we were completely stuffed but still couldn’t resist a quick glance over the dessert menu.. and spent all of 5 seconds browsing before we selected a little sharing platter of desserts called dim sum assiette and a pot of Jasmine tea. We opted for the first option which included lemon and passionfruit creme chiboust, coconut and dark chocolate torte and mung bean pancakes. I wasn’t too keen on the sound of the pancakes though, so we switched for the macaroon of the day.
Since we were both pretty stuffed, the little selection was more than enough to share.. giving us something a little sweet to finish our meal. And to nibble on alongside sips of refreshing Jasmine tea. Although we maxed out with two starters, meals and desserts, the lunch menu offers just the right amount. So you leave feeling happily full rather than ready for a nap. And pretty reasonably priced so I’ll definitely be back. Even just for the Massaman curry.